Maxine McArthur
Maxine McArthur says:
"I'm a sucker for a hero.
"I like to identify with the strong main character who
moves the story.
"Trouble is, the older I get, the less satisfying both
literature and media versions of these heroes become.
Most of them are male and often they're distressingly
one-dimensional. Time Future is my attempt to satisfy
that craving for a believable (female) hero in a
believable story.
"What an optimist, eh? To think that heroes CAN be
believable -- why, could be just like you or I! Like
Halley or Murdoch. And if they can try to change their
world..."

Be it Time Past or Time Future, time is the demon that is inexorably stalking Commander Halley
of the space station Jocasta. At least, she wishes she was back on the station; she fervently wishes she had never
tried to steal a forbidden jump drive from under the... well, noses, for lack of a better word... of the Four to
give to the rest of the Confederacy. All her valiant efforts have left her stranded in Earth's polluted, unenlightened
past with only the slimmest chance of every returning to her own time.

If she knew the forces working against her back on Jocasta and on Earth, she would knew just how bleak her prospects
really are. Not only do some unknown players not want Halley and her jury-rigged jump drive to return, they are more
than willing to kill her and anyone else necessary to make certain no one ever learns of her escapade.

Maxine McArthur's debut novel Time Future won the George Turner Prize, and with good reason. Along with writing a tight,
fast-moving death-race of a novel, she seems to have invented her own genre: the space procedural, and it is the match
of any police procedural set here on Earth. Think of it as a procedural with the pace and the tension cranked up to
an almost unbearable measure. And Time Past doesn't let up on the pressure for an instant, either.

Taking Halley to Earth's past is a brilliant move on McArthur's part: giving readers both more literal expanse and a
solid grounding in many of the things and people mentioned in the debut novel. Plus, the conditions give an added
impetus to want Halley safely off the dangerous, diseased planet as soon as humanly(?) possible, even if it is only
to the comparative risks of time travel. Always, in Halley's exploits readers can clearly hear the time ticking
away, running out on her.

Even as the breathless pace is push everything before it, McArthur manages her own time to flesh out the
characters -- human and alien. She doesn't shrink from showing the negative aspects of a being right along with the
more likeable characteristics, either, and there and plenty of flaws in Halley and the people and other creatures
around her. Truly alien races are a difficult creation, but McArthur's Invidi, in particular, are as unfathomable
behaviourally and physically as any in science fiction. Their complete lack of connection or empathy is reminiscent
of the aliens in Patricia Anthony's stunning Happy Policeman.

Time Past delivers on every promise Time Future hinted at and solidifies the reputation of an
award-winning new author. Exciting, thought-provoking, shocking, heart-breaking -- it never disappoints. Now, it only
leaves us eager to find out what Maxine McArthur, that Wonder from Down-Under will hit us with next...

In between reviews, articles, and interviews, Lisa DuMond writes science
fiction and humour. DARKERS, her latest novel, was published in August 2000
by Hard Shell Word Factory. She has also written for BOOKPAGE and PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.
Her articles and short stories are all over the map. You can check
out Lisa and her work at her website hikeeba!.